Phyllis Deane Berrum

Phyllis Deane Berrum

June 22, 1939 - Apr. 24, 2018

Phyllis Deane Berrum, a resident of Keizer, Oregon, for nearly 50 years, died peacefully in her sleep last Tuesday afternoon. Phyllis was born and raised in Stockton, California. She graduated from Stockton College High School in 1957 and received a teaching degree from San Francisco State in 1961. Soon after college, she met and married Henry (Bud) Berrum and moved to Minden, Nevada. She took a teaching job in Carson City and thus began a long and distinguished career in education. That career was briefly interrupted with the arrival of her two children. In 1968, she and Bud moved the family to Albany, Oregon, followed by a move to the then unincorporated town of Keizer, the following year. She taught fourth grade in Gervais, then Monitor. In 1983 she and Bud divorced. At that time, she advanced her career by training as a reading specialist, eventually obtaining an advanced degree from Oregon State University while working for the Reedville School District and then for the State. She was generous to a fault with her time and her talents. She loved life, laughter, dancing, travel and continuing to learn. She was an avid reader, a wicked pinochle player, and in her later years relished working as the secretary and volunteering with the food bank at Faith Lutheran Church in Keizer. She will be greatly missed by family and friends, including her special friend Michelle Deplois and her dog Coco.

Phyllis was preceded in death by her brother, Jerry Coon. She is survived by her brother and sister in-law, Larry and Lenore Coon of Stockton, her daughter, Stacey Berrum of Ashland and her son and daughter-in-law, Scott Berrum and Laura Lull of Hermosa Beach, CA.

A service will be held at Faith Lutheran Church in Keizer on Saturday, June 2 at 11:00AM. A light lunch will be served after the service. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation (www.myasthenia.org) or the Oregon Humane Society (www.oregonhumane.org) in her name.